We were gonna buy a new printer and I told my mom to buy laser. She said no, following a similar reasoning to yours, and bought an inkjet hp. For a year we couldn’t use it because of a faulty ink cartridge. We only do occasional printing so we often just went to a local print shop(?) instead of doing anything about it. Then we bought another cartridge (which costs more than half the price of the inkjet printer itself) and the printer is only printing the upper half of pages for some reason. I’m the tech guy in my house and I’ve had, at this point, a lifetime’s worth of HP’s bullshit. I’m not even gonna try to fix it because it’s always the most convoluted stuff with drivers and various standalone programs and none of it works. You know, cell phones and controllers and cameras can be plug-and-play but inkjet printers NOOOO.
Idk what the conclusion is but ig just don’t buy that shit. If you don’t want a laser printer then stick to printing your stuff at a local business.
My grandmother constantly complains about having to buy new ink carts for her printer and how expensive they are… I found her a good laser printer for a good price, she refuses to even let me set it up. Some people just cant be helped.
There’s this book “Waiting For the Galactic Bus”. It’s about two immortal, energy based aliens who get stranded on primitive Earth and give a proto-ape an IQ boost, creating the human race. They find that when humans die their consciousness sticks around and has gathered in two “post-life energy pools”. The humans in these pools are expecting some version of heaven and hell, so the aliens decide to give them what they want just to keep them happy.
At first the alien running the pool dubbed “below stairs” doesn’t understand what the humans are asking for, but the other gives him a copy of Dante’s Inferno as an explanation (his response: “These people are sick!”) So he gives the humans the scenery and props they want, and makes sure all the exits are clearly marked. They can leave any time they want. But they stay because they insist on having their hell.
This book is one of the most insightful commentaries on human nature I’ve ever read.
The real cost of an inkjet is that one needs to buy ink regardless of whether they print. It tends to dry out over a few months. If you don’t happen to use all the 100-200 pages, the money is wasted.
In the past, just because the printer was on sale, I have been able to buy a cheap printer for less than new ink.
I bought a brother a couple of years ago for just under $200. That was the cost of 4 sets of ink. I have replaced the toner a couple of times at $17 each. Each replacement has lasted me a few thousand pages.
This was a replacement to a pair of brother printers of the same model I obtained via yard sale for a total cost of $10. These yard sale printers would have lasted longer if not for small children and dogs.
I have probably printed 6k pages for the cost of $180 over the course of several years. Most of the printing has been school work for kids and forms in general.
This is the biggest part of the scam. You buy a new cartridge ($80 mind you!) to print something, then go to print again a few weeks later and the damn thing doesn’t work anymore. Should be a class action law suit.
None taken! I have already moved on to laser printers. It is literally one less problem in my house. I can’t imagine freaking out and trying to get just a few more pages from my printer, but I was there once.
I bought a Brother laserprinter in 2004 for about 350€. It still works like on the first day (although I’m not using it much these days). I had to replace the drum once, I think…
I picked up a low cost, black and white laser printer. It was ~60 CAD, 10 years ago, and still sees nearly daily use. Gone through two toner cartridges since then.
Another great newish option is an ink tank printer. They aren’t heavy duty like laser but you get color. You can just get the ink tanks refilled once they run out.
No sir! You can buy a basic brother laser printer with duplex on Amazon for $120. It’s a myth that laser printers are significantly more expensive. And they are absolutely, hands down, no bullshit, super straight facts here, cheaper in the long run. Vs inkjets it does not take long at all for that ‘long run’ savings to be realized.
Literally just bought an all-in-one copier/scanner/color laser printer for $300 on the dot the other day from Brother directly, so no, it seems like there are plenty of reasonably-priced laser printers. I’ll take that over $30 every time I want to print something because the ink cart dried up.
Depends on which one you buy. The ubiquitous Brother HL-L23XX is around $150 and I think I got it on sale a few years ago for closer to $100.
But more than that, its all about the cost of ink vs toner. Ink is expensive, can dry up and clog which will require a new cartridge, and consumer inkjets are getting to the point where they have hardware DRM preventing third party cartridges.
Lasers may have higher up front costs but toner doesn’t bad (at least I’ve never seen it happen and I’ve had the same toner drum for four years) and it lasts so many prints that you’ll get your money’s worth.
Mine too. Before this printer I had an old HP inkjet (so old that its basic drivers weren’t bloated PoSes) and every time I had to print, I would have to buy a new cartridge. If I tracked how much I spent on ink I would not be surprised if it was more than the entire cost of the laser printer.
I bought my brother laser printer in 2011 since it was cheaper than buying a bunch of programs from a print shop. It still works great. So yes, it definitely an expensive up front purchase, but it should last you for as long as you have to print stuff.
Don’t laser printers easily cost upwards of $300? A bit hard to justify for occasional printing.
We were gonna buy a new printer and I told my mom to buy laser. She said no, following a similar reasoning to yours, and bought an inkjet hp. For a year we couldn’t use it because of a faulty ink cartridge. We only do occasional printing so we often just went to a local print shop(?) instead of doing anything about it. Then we bought another cartridge (which costs more than half the price of the inkjet printer itself) and the printer is only printing the upper half of pages for some reason. I’m the tech guy in my house and I’ve had, at this point, a lifetime’s worth of HP’s bullshit. I’m not even gonna try to fix it because it’s always the most convoluted stuff with drivers and various standalone programs and none of it works. You know, cell phones and controllers and cameras can be plug-and-play but inkjet printers NOOOO. Idk what the conclusion is but ig just don’t buy that shit. If you don’t want a laser printer then stick to printing your stuff at a local business.
My grandmother constantly complains about having to buy new ink carts for her printer and how expensive they are… I found her a good laser printer for a good price, she refuses to even let me set it up. Some people just cant be helped.
There’s this book “Waiting For the Galactic Bus”. It’s about two immortal, energy based aliens who get stranded on primitive Earth and give a proto-ape an IQ boost, creating the human race. They find that when humans die their consciousness sticks around and has gathered in two “post-life energy pools”. The humans in these pools are expecting some version of heaven and hell, so the aliens decide to give them what they want just to keep them happy.
At first the alien running the pool dubbed “below stairs” doesn’t understand what the humans are asking for, but the other gives him a copy of Dante’s Inferno as an explanation (his response: “These people are sick!”) So he gives the humans the scenery and props they want, and makes sure all the exits are clearly marked. They can leave any time they want. But they stay because they insist on having their hell.
This book is one of the most insightful commentaries on human nature I’ve ever read.
The real cost of an inkjet is that one needs to buy ink regardless of whether they print. It tends to dry out over a few months. If you don’t happen to use all the 100-200 pages, the money is wasted.
In the past, just because the printer was on sale, I have been able to buy a cheap printer for less than new ink.
I bought a brother a couple of years ago for just under $200. That was the cost of 4 sets of ink. I have replaced the toner a couple of times at $17 each. Each replacement has lasted me a few thousand pages.
This was a replacement to a pair of brother printers of the same model I obtained via yard sale for a total cost of $10. These yard sale printers would have lasted longer if not for small children and dogs.
I have probably printed 6k pages for the cost of $180 over the course of several years. Most of the printing has been school work for kids and forms in general.
This is the biggest part of the scam. You buy a new cartridge ($80 mind you!) to print something, then go to print again a few weeks later and the damn thing doesn’t work anymore. Should be a class action law suit.
Sometimes you could rescue them by blotting them on an alcohol soaked paper towel.
Or you could just throw it in the trash, get a laser, and enjoy trouble free printing. No offense.
None taken! I have already moved on to laser printers. It is literally one less problem in my house. I can’t imagine freaking out and trying to get just a few more pages from my printer, but I was there once.
I bought a Brother laserprinter in 2004 for about 350€. It still works like on the first day (although I’m not using it much these days). I had to replace the drum once, I think…
How much does a few cartridges of ink cost?
I picked up a low cost, black and white laser printer. It was ~60 CAD, 10 years ago, and still sees nearly daily use. Gone through two toner cartridges since then.
10/10, highly recomended
Another great newish option is an ink tank printer. They aren’t heavy duty like laser but you get color. You can just get the ink tanks refilled once they run out.
It’ll pay for itself many times over 15-20 years it’s going to serve you.
No sir! You can buy a basic brother laser printer with duplex on Amazon for $120. It’s a myth that laser printers are significantly more expensive. And they are absolutely, hands down, no bullshit, super straight facts here, cheaper in the long run. Vs inkjets it does not take long at all for that ‘long run’ savings to be realized.
This is why inkjets are a scam.
Literally just bought an all-in-one copier/scanner/color laser printer for $300 on the dot the other day from Brother directly, so no, it seems like there are plenty of reasonably-priced laser printers. I’ll take that over $30 every time I want to print something because the ink cart dried up.
Depends on which one you buy. The ubiquitous Brother HL-L23XX is around $150 and I think I got it on sale a few years ago for closer to $100.
But more than that, its all about the cost of ink vs toner. Ink is expensive, can dry up and clog which will require a new cartridge, and consumer inkjets are getting to the point where they have hardware DRM preventing third party cartridges.
Lasers may have higher up front costs but toner doesn’t bad (at least I’ve never seen it happen and I’ve had the same toner drum for four years) and it lasts so many prints that you’ll get your money’s worth.
In my experience, ink does dry up. Repeatedly. I was using 1 cartridge per two or three prints. So I got a $300 laser printer and it was worth it.
Mine too. Before this printer I had an old HP inkjet (so old that its basic drivers weren’t bloated PoSes) and every time I had to print, I would have to buy a new cartridge. If I tracked how much I spent on ink I would not be surprised if it was more than the entire cost of the laser printer.
I bought my brother laser printer in 2011 since it was cheaper than buying a bunch of programs from a print shop. It still works great. So yes, it definitely an expensive up front purchase, but it should last you for as long as you have to print stuff.